Just when Cavaliers power forward Tristan Thompson looked like he was ready to make a major surge, his left ankle had a different idea.

The rookie rolled his ankle with less than 2 minutes left in the Cavs' 121-94 loss to Atlanta on Saturday. The 6-foot-9, 227-pounder remained in the game, but was unable to put any weight on his ankle.

Thompson had X-rays taken after the game at Philips Arena. They were negative. He was scheduled to be re-evaluated once the team returned to Cleveland. The Cavs (6-9) say his status will be updated Monday.

Thompson matched his career high with 16 points against the Hawks. He made 6 of 7 shots from the field and 4 of 5 from the foul line. He added five rebounds and one steal in 23 minutes.

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He told reporters after the game he would be ready to face the Miami Heat on Tuesday. That could have been youthful exuberance.

Cavs coach Byron Scott is pleased with Thompson's improvement.

"He's getting more comfortable each and every game," Scott said recently. "He's starting to figure out his role and what he can do in this league. We knew he'd be a good weakside defender. He's been active on the boards. Around that paint area, he can be effective. I'm impressed with the way he's played."

The 20-year-old Thompson has been one of the Cavs' most productive players per minutes played. In 15 games this season, Thompson is averaging 8.0 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.1 blocks in 18.3 minutes per game. He's shooting 48.1 percent from the field and 40 percent from the foul line.

At times, he looks unorthodox on offense. He's able to use both hands effectively.

"I'm getting more comfortable," Thompson said. "(I want to) come in, play hard and give full effort. I just want to be a spark. I feel like if I can do that, I think it might boost our team and give us a little momentum."

The No. 4 overall pick in the 2011 draft loves that he can be a fan favorite.

"Hopefully," he said. "I love the city of Cleveland."

Despite Thompson's mini-emergence, the Cavs have been saddled with their first three-game losing streak of the season. The Heat will be highly favored to stretch that to at least four.

They have been blown out in the last two games -- losing to Chicago and Atlanta by a combined 66 points. They are not going to get a breather in Miami.

"The next two weeks are really big for us," Cavs guard Kyrie Irving said. "We have some great teams (at) home, and we play a couple of great teams on the road. It's definitely going to be a test."

The Cavs started the rugged stretch against Central Division-leading Chicago on Friday. They didn't look ready for the challenge, as they suffered a 39-point loss, their most lopsided defeat at home in franchise history. Things didn't improve in Atlanta, which hung a 27-point loss on the Cavs.

If the Bulls aren't the best team in the Eastern Conference, Miami might be. The Cavs will have to play extremely well to make that competitive, especially with the way LeBron James is playing.

"We're going into a buzz saw the next 10 games," Scott said.

The goal is to compete, something the Cavs didn't do in the previous two games.

"I thought this week coming up was going to test us," Scott said. "We'll see how these guys can handle it after the last two nights. Sometimes it takes hitting rock bottom to learn, but I don't think we're anywhere near rock bottom yet."

They were respectable last year, too, before the bottom fell out of the season with a 26-game losing streak.

"Hopefully, we won't see that streak start again," Scott said.

"When you're a young team, the one thing you have to count on is hustling and playing hard each game. You have to do that every night. Our margin for error is not that big. We have to play solid on both ends of the court. We have to move the ball better and play better defensively. When we do that, we're a much better team."

Cavs forward Antawn Jamison said the last two games have been as bad as it gets.

"I think right now we're worse than we were last year," he said. "The way we've performed the last two nights is disappointing."